Peek behind the scenes of Tempting Tangles Designs! See our 'works in progress' for upcoming designs. We offer counted thread designs in cross stitch, needlepoint, and blackwork, all with the adventurous stitcher in mind.

May 22, 2010

This gift came from my friend, Pauline, far away on the island of Malta, a couple of years ago. I thought I would add some pictures to this post. Here you can see the whole kit, with tools, tinting material and several sheets of parchment. This is called parchment craft, popular in her country. She is talented at the lovely technique involving piercing the sheets of parchment, stitching or lacing or weaving metallic or other threads, embossing and stippling.

Someone suggested I make this little Treasure Chest into a freebie - designed to be worked on perforated paper. I personally like the Heart with the metallic thread woven across the face of it. The flowers are paper but look so very real! *** And this delicate tangerine toned treasure is just that - a Victorian Treasure Chest complete with tiny lock and keyhole.

AND here you see a beautiful doily Pauline also stitched. It is exquisite. I need to write again and ask what the style of this needlework would be. Clearly, it has involved hours and hours of work.

Rene, of the ILCS Group, was so sweet to send me this lovely stitch picker that she made. The dainty blue and white beads remind me of the sea, which I miss visiting. Rene la Frog, as we all love to call her, attached her signature silver frogs to add weight and control to the picker. This one won't go flying into the carpet, I am absolutely sure!

Here it is, laying across a corner of my Panoply of Posies which is nearing completion. Thanks, Rene!

A dear friend of mine was so sweet to stitch a lovely needle book for me and send it all the way from Texas to Idaho for a very early birthday gift. I am so pleased - she chose some of the loveliest diminutive motifs from my Panoply of Posies sampler.

Here is the front... and back. And here is the middle with all the goodies!- Scissors holder and fob, floss rings, a nice place to park my needles...

What more could a birthday girl ask? Isn't it just stunning! The black makes those jewel tones stand out beautifully. Thank you, Rebecca!!!!

Here you can see how I have been working on the next design after Creation. For a long time, I just called it "November Motif Sampler". Once it was complete, I decided a snappier name was in order. Hence, Panoply of Posies.

Here you can see that I've finally reached halfway point on Panoply of Posies. Between stitching, designing and charting, I think my eyes were glazing over. I truly wished there were more hours in the day!

As I stitched, I began to think about how these various motifs would work for a scissors fob, a humbug, even a little needle roll or trinket purse. Guess what? You will see in the next post. :-)

This photo represents a lot of beginnings. While it is the ending, as far as being stitched, of my designs called Creation, a lot more came after.

Just the stitching took 8 months ans that was because I wasn't working from a pattern, other than some little bits for ideas on certain motifs. The process which began in February 2009 on a nearly full yard of raw linen, ended in December after I finally trimmed the right side and mounted the linen on stretcher bars to my brand new Ks Stitching Stand.

Then a friend saw the completed piece and insisted I share with others, so the charting process began. I have a whole lot more admiration for those who chart off of antique samplers hanging in museum walls. There was/is no easy way! After weeks of struggle, the process was complete, the chart built and formatted and my new design company, Tempting Tangles, was born.